Speechless Voice
by ElphieFaeThropp
Summary: After something happens to Galinda, it's up to Elphaba to let her know that she is safe and that she will do everything she can to help her feel better. Not the best summary. Gelphie. Pretty much AU, for the most part. Shizera. Book and musical based. Mostly musical based, though. Trigger warning: Implied rape.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, all. I should explain a few things. This is my first Wicked fanfiction. I'm stepping into new and scary waters, for me, at least, so please be gentle in your criticism. Secondly, I might not be able to update consistently. At least, not at first. Thirdly, I want you all to enjoy this story. I'm not going to beg for any reviews or comments or anything like that. I just wanted to try my hand at some Wicked/Gelphie fanfiction.**

**Having said that, I present to you: Speechless Voice.**

Galinda Upland was scared. Hurt and scared. How was she supposed to feel about this? Who could she tell about this? So many emotions rushed through her mind. Fear, sadness, worry, pain, anger. Just to name a few. But shame was the most prominent. Unadulterated shame.

How could she have let this happen? Was it because she was too weak? Was it because she always made herself out to be this blissful, blonde little girl that wasn't the brightest in her class at Shiz?

She remained where she was laying for what felt like an eternity, her arms wrapped around herself as she tried to quiet her sobs and wipe away her tears. With a shaky deep breath, she managed to at least pull herself up into a sitting position. Even only that much hurt. She sat still for another minute or so, knees pulled to her chest, her chin resting on top of her knees as she looked blankly at nothing in particular. She had to move eventually. She knew that much. She couldn't stay out here forever. Especially after what had just happened.

"Come on, Galinda. You are Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands. You just… you need to get to your room, take a nice, hot shower, and then everything will be…" She broke down into quiet sobs again. Nothing would be okay again, not after this. But the attempted pep talk at least got her to push herself up off the ground and start to make her way back to their dorm at Crage Hall. She kept her arms wrapped around herself, as if she were figuratively trying to keep herself and her world from breaking into a million pieces. She tried to hum a cheerful tune, tried to think about anything other than the past half hour. Anything but that.

Finally, she reached the entrance to Crage Hall, walking as quickly as she could to her dorm room. In her rush to get inside, she fumbled clumsily with the key as she fit it into the lock, turning it and entering the room as quickly as she could, closing the door behind her rather loudly.

"I see you've returned from your nightly waltz around Shiz." That would be the artichoke, Elphaba Thropp, snarky, as usual. "Tell me, have you found anything new worth viewing around campus since yesterday? One might suspect witchcraft, should there be something there that wasn't there before."

But Elphaba's dry humour was lost on Galinda, and she ignored her completely as she walked very quietly to her bed, sitting down gingerly and staring at the wood floor beneath her feet. This gave Elphaba pause. The blonde always had some form of comeback, whether it be a snide comment or another rude nickname for the tall green girl. She looked over at the little blonde, her characteristic glare softening a bit as she studied her. Something wasn't right. The blonde was never this quiet. Ever. That alone was enough to make the green girl worry. And furthermore, the distant look on her face gave Elphaba chills. And definitely not the good kind. After a few moments of unbearable silence, Elphaba decided to speak up.

"Miss Galinda… Are you alright?" She watched the blonde carefully, but she showed no signs that she had even heard Elphaba speak. Now Elphaba was certain that something was wrong. "Galinda." She dropped the formal prefix as her voice grew more firm in her concern for the petite blonde girl as she moved to stand in front of her. Her worry for the girl, despite herself, only continued to grow when she didn't even seem to acknowledge that Elphaba was standing right in front of her.

Against all of her better judgment, she moved to kneel in front of the girl, ducking her head to try and meet Galinda's distant gaze, which seemed to bore straight through the green girl. She let out a soft, mostly inaudible gasp as she studied Galinda from up close. Her clothes, normally perfect and unblemished, were smudged with dirt. Was that a rip on her sleeve? Her gaze moved up to Galinda's face, and she searched her for any sign of emotion. That couldn't be a bruise on her cheek, could it? Something definitely was not right. Not in the slightest. She watched her for a bit longer, her gaze scrutinizing, before she spoke quietly. "Galinda…" She hesitantly reached a hand up and placed it on Galinda's arm, which appeared to be the wrong thing to do, or possibly the right thing, when Galinda flinched and her ocean blue gaze focused on Elphaba's own dark gaze. "Are you alright? Has something happened you need to tell me about?" She spoke with an intensity that neither girl really understood.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence as Galinda seemed to struggle internally with what to say. Could she really tell her roommate what had happened? Would this just be reason for the green girl to further taunt her with? Not that she could see Elphaba Thropp using something like this against her. That girl couldn't, and wouldn't, hurt a fly. But she was scared and hurting. Oh, how she was hurting. And she wanted nothing more than to be able to tell someone why she felt so alone right now. Why her world was crashing down. But there was another voice screaming inside her head. A voice that told her she could trust no one, that after tonight, she was completely alone in the world, and that she would have to deal with the repercussions on her own. In the end, the second voice, the fear, won control of her actions.

"Don't touch me," she murmured, barely above a whisper as she tried to move away from Elphaba's hand.

Elphaba wasn't sure if she was relieved or further worried about the girl's response. It _did_ seem normal, though, coming from her, so she didn't think too much into it. "Of course, Miss Galinda. Wouldn't want you to catch any of my oh-so-contagious green." She let her hand fall away from Galinda's arm as she stood back up, still keeping a wary eye on the girl, however, as she turned and walked back to her desk. After a moment of hesitation, she turned back to the girl, her expression still soft with worry. Galinda was hiding something from her, and she needed to know what was haunting the poor girl. "Miss Galinda. Are you sure there isn't something that you need to speak to me about?"

Galinda moved her gaze from the floor to her roommate in the briefest of glances, her fear once again getting the better of her as she molded her emotionless gaze into one of slight annoyance. She couldn't let Elphaba know that something was terribly wrong. Not yet, at least. "Miss Elphaba, it would quite possibly be a miracle if you would be able to remain silent for the briefest of moments. I need to think."

"Shocking." Elphaba rolled her eyes, a more characteristic smirk replacing the worry on her features. "Do try not to injure yourself. I would hate to have to go through the trouble of explaining to the nurses in the infirmary that your brain simply exploded with the mere effort of thinking."

But Galinda's only response was a quiet sniffle, completely unheard by Elphaba, who had gone back to immersing herself in whatever book she was currently reading about Ozian history. To save herself from any further ridicule that would surely ensue, should Elphaba catch her crying, Galinda stood as quickly as she could, grabbing her shower things and running into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her. She was quick to turn the water on to hide the growing sobs that were starting to tear from her throat as she dropped her things on the floor, moving to once again wrap her arms around herself.

She didn't know how long she sat there on the edge of the toilet, allowing herself to have a long, hard cry. Eventually she figured she had better shower if she wished for there to be any hot water left for her, so she very carefully removed her somewhat tattered clothes and stepped into the shower, wincing a bit as the water hit her. She did her best not to look at the bruises and scrapes that lined her arms and legs, to ignore the sting she felt where the man's hand had connected with her cheek. But most of all, she tried to ignore the excruciating pain between her legs, and the blood that mixed with the water as she rinsed herself off.

As she continued to clean herself off as best she could, she thought back upon the night. It had started out nice. She had had a date with Fiyero. They had had a nice picnic by the Suicide Canal, and they had watched the sun set. It was perfectly romantic. And all too soon, it had to come to an end. And since boys were not allowed in or near Crage Hall, they had had to part ways there, leaving Galinda to walk back to her dorm alone. It hadn't seemed such a bad thing to have to do, at the time.

Suicide Canal wasn't even very far from Crage Hall, but Galinda had decided that she wanted to walk around campus for a bit, since she had never seen anything around campus at night. Thinking back on it, that was her wrong step. What girl in their right mind decides to go exploring campus at night? And alone, too, no less. But she had already made up her mind, since she was so stubborn, and had begun her trek around campus. Had she found anything to look any different at night than it did during the day? No. But it had been the idea of a nighttime walk around campus that had tempted her, she hadn't really expected to find anything new or unusual.

She hadn't thought much about when she happened to see someone following behind her when she looked over her shoulder. Maybe this person was just headed home. Or maybe it was just that silly Biq, who always tried to grab her attention in any way that he could. Nevertheless, she had picked up her pace a little, an unsettling feeling coming over her. That was when she noticed the footsteps behind her were getting quicker, too. In a moment of pure fear, she began to run. Much to her dismay, so did the person behind her. Before she had even been able to process what was happening, she was pinned against a wall, and she was screaming and begging the person to stop, but they wouldn't.

Galinda closed her eyes, shaking her head and trying to wipe away the tears. She couldn't think about this anymore. At least not tonight. She would have enough trouble, as it was, trying to get to sleep. With a shaky deep breath, she cleared her throat, washing her face to erase any signs that she had been crying, before turning the water off and drying herself off carefully. She slipped her nightgown and robe on, to hide any evidence of the bruises and scratches from Elphaba. Quietly, she headed back into their room, throwing her covers back, sliding under them and covering herself up quickly, turning so she was facing away from Elphaba.

Elphaba watched her from the corner of her eye. Something was off about the petite blonde tonight. Elphaba didn't know what and she didn't know why, but it was very unsettling. And what was even more unsettling was the amount of care that seemed to be worming its way into Elphaba's being. She supposed she would just have to wait for the right time to bring it up. Nothing would be able to be said with Galinda distancing herself even further than she already was from the green girl. But she would wait until Galinda was ready to talk about it, that much she was certain about.

**So, there you go. The first chapter in my first Wicked Gelphie fanfiction. If you'd like to, you are more than welcome to leave a review or suggestions in the little box down below. Thank you for reading.**

**~Anjel**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this has taken so long. Work got in the way and I had a hard time deciding where to go with this next.**

**Also, since I forgot last time, I do not own Wicked, nor do I own any of the characters or ideas created by Gregory Maguire, L. Frank Baum, or Stephen Schwartz.**

Glinda woke up with a start in the middle of the night, breathing heavy from a night terror. Quietly as she could, she slipped from her bed and tiptoed to her desk, placing her hands there to steady herself as she gulped the fresh air coming in from the slightly cracked window. She looked down at her desk, tilting her head slightly as her gaze fell to the training wand Madame Morrible had given her. It was worth a try, she supposed, to try and magick the pain and memories away. She would whatever she could, at this point. She picked the wand up and snuck off to the bathroom as silently as she could, hoping to not wake the sleeping green girl.

But the green girl had been awake far longer than the blonde. She had never really gone to bed. Not really, at least. She had continued to read for a while as she lay in bed, occasionally glancing up at the silent blonde. Something was definitely not right with her, she could tell that just by the way the girl had held herself earlier that night. Eventually, doing more staring than reading, she had put the book aside, studying the blonde as she tossed and turned in her sleep. It hadn't been long after that when Galinda began to murmur and whimper and cry softly in her sleep. Elphaba had frozen, unsure of what to do as the blonde repeated the same two phrases over and over again.

_"No. Please don't."_

Elphaba had just begun to ask herself what could possibly have happened to the poor girl on the bed opposite of her when the blonde woke up, panting slightly. The green girl had then feigned sleep as the blonde stood and shuffled over to her desk and then the bathroom.

Silence reigned as Elphaba opened one eye, watching the bathroom door. She could just barely hear whispered words, a sigh of defeat, and a quiet sniffle before the door opened. Elphaba continued to watch the girl as she crossed the room, the moon giving just enough light to reflect off of the trail of tears down Galinda's cheek.

Quietly, the blonde moved back to her bed, sitting down with a pained groan before laying back down, quiet, stifled sniffles still sounding from her bed. Elphaba studied her for a bit longer before closing her eyes again, but not sleeping. Perhaps she would talk to the blonde in the morning, if she would allow her to.

* * *

The first thing Galinda was faintly aware of the next morning was the dull pain that still settled over her. She kept her eyes closed as she finally regained full consciousness, clinging to the sleepiness, wishing she didn't have to wake up to the nightmare of reality involving yesterday's events. But that was a silly and childish thing to think, that with a wave of a wand and a muttered incantation, things would be different the next morning. And goodness knew she had tried exactly that.

She continued to lay there for a long time, staring up at the ceiling as she took slow, deep, calming breaths, trying her very best to relax. What else could one do in this kind of situation? She glanced over at her roommate's bed, almost jumping when she saw the green girl sitting up, looking over at her with what appeared to be a concerned expression. Elphaba, the artichoke, concerned? For her? Since when? Galinda made eye contact with her, and the raven-haired girl quickly looked down at her hands folded in her lap. Galinda bit back a comment, feeling far too scared and alone to push the green girl farther away than she had already done. She sighed, pushing herself to sit up, keeping the covers over her as she wrapped her arms around herself, keeping her gaze trained on her sheets.

Elphaba looked back up at her and continued to watch her, a single eyebrow raised as she studied her. Finally, she cleared her throat quietly, causing the blonde to look over at her. Elphaba opened her mouth, unsure of what to say first. "Are… Are you sure you're feeling alright, Miss Galinda?"

Galinda looked up at the green girl, her vision already clouded with held back tears as she took a deep breath. Her bottom lip began to quiver and something happened that neither girl expected. She began to cry, burying her face in her hands, unable to even answer Elphaba's question. Elphaba, who was used to being a motherly figure to Nessarose, was at her side in a second, more of a reflexive action than a conscious one. Before she could even truly register what was going on, Galinda was in her arms, crying into her shoulder. After a few seconds, when what had just happened fully sank in, Elphaba tensed a bit. Here she was, comforting the blonde roommate whom she had declared she loathed completely. Something was wrong with that picture. Or was there? It had seemed like a natural thing to do.

And come to think of it, she really _did_ hate to see the blonde upset. Unless she was purposely pushing her buttons. Then it was okay. But seeing the petite blonde this upset really tugged at her heartstrings, and she still wasn't quite sure why it affected her so strongly. Without really thinking, she began to gently stroke Galinda's hair, quietly shushing her and rocking her a bit.

"Sh, sh, sh… It's okay. You're safe." She continued to murmur words like that as Galinda continued to sob. Elphaba wished she could know what was bothering the poor girl, but she wasn't about to pry into her personal life. For all she knew, she was finally fed up with rooming with the green girl, and was just throwing a hissy fit. But then why would she be letting said green girl hold her and comfort her? "Sh, sh, sh…" Soothing came naturally to Elphaba, she had done it practically her entire life when caring for Nessa. She started to hum softly, and that seemed to help the troubled blonde start to calm down. "That's it… Sh, sh, sh…"

Galinda blinked up at the green girl, her eyes rimmed with red and tears still trailing down her cheeks. "W-Why are you doing this?" She sniffled, blinking again as she studied her roommate. "You're supposed to hate me. I've never d-done anything nice to you. Why are you being nice to me?"

Elphaba smiled a bit, a smile that was hardly there, as she reached up to very gently whisk the blonde's tears away. "Because, my sweet, you're obviously scared or alone or hurting or all of the above, and you need a friend right now. Even if that friend is 'unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe.'"

Galinda blinked up at her again, a slight chuckle escaping. "That's new… 'My sweet…' Where did that come from?"

Elphaba blushed slightly, not even realizing the nickname she had let slip, her green skin turning a shade darker, causing the little blonde to giggle a bit. "I'm sorry, I must have just accidentally-"

"No, no… I kinda like it." She gave a watery smile before more tears started to trail down her cheeks, her gaze falling back to her lap. No matter what she did, her mind kept wandering back to last night, and she could not cheer up for more than a few seconds.

Elphaba gave a sigh and rubbed her back gently. "Is there anything I can do to help? Do… Do you want to talk about anything?"

Galinda was quick to shake her head. "Not right now. I…" She froze, not sure of what else to say. "No, I… I can't…" Her tears started to fall quicker as she sniffled.

"Sh, sh, sh… No, I'm sorry. That was a bit forward of me." She offered the petite girl her sleeve, so she could wipe her eyes.

"Thank you…" Galinda wiped her eyes and fell silent again. She continued to lean against Elphaba, who was no longer tense and didn't seem to mind anymore.

After a few minutes of deafening silence, Elphaba looked down at the small blonde, who looked like she was staring at the wall blankly. She gently shook her. "Come on, now, we've got class in a few hours. You're gonna want to have time to put your face on and pick your perfectly matched outfit." Elphaba was trying to cheer the blonde girl up, but Galinda merely shook her head.

"I don't want to go to class today." She wrapped her arms around herself, pulling the covers back over herself.

"Oh, Miss Galinda, you say that every morning."

"No." Galinda's voice was firm. "I don't want to go to class, and that's that."

Elphaba was surprised at the blonde's sudden outburst. Apparently, Galinda was, too, because she hid her face in her hands again and began to cry. Elphaba sighed and looked down at her, remaining quiet for a long time as she watched.

"Would… Would you like me to stay with you?"

Galinda blinked up at the green girl, her tears only falling thicker. Elphaba, the bookworm, was offering to miss class just to make sure that she as okay? This girl was supposed to be hating her guts. Why was she being so nice to her? She shook her head. "I could never ask you to miss class just for me."

"Well, let me put it this way, then. Will you be okay if I leave you alone?" Elphaba studied her intently, her dark eyes burning with concern.

The blonde nodded. "I'll be fine, Mi-" She paused, correcting herself and dropping the formal 'Miss.' "Elphaba. I'll be fine." She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as Elphaba looked at her skeptically.

"If you say so… Galinda." She stood from the bed, moving to her closet to get out her clothes for the day and moving to the bathroom to change.

Galinda sighed as she sat on the bed in silence. She would have to tell someone sometime soon. And Elphaba should be the first to know. She was her roommate. And, like it or not, right now she trusted her more than anyone else at this school. That had to count for something. She would tell her when she got back from classes tonight. She swore to herself that she would. A few short moments later, she was interrupted from her thoughts as Elphaba came back out, dressed in a simple dark blue uniform. As she moved to pick up her bag and books, she looked back over at the blonde, who was still bundled up in a ball of covers on her bed.

"You're certain that you're going to be alright?"

Galinda nodded, trying to convince both her roommate and herself. "Yes."

Elphaba watched the blonde, knowing that she wasn't telling the whole truth, but she didn't want to push her any farther past her comfort zone than she already possibly had. She gave a small sigh and walked over to the blonde, placing a soft hand on her shoulder. "Okay. I'll be back as soon as classes are over." She smoothed her hand over the girl's blonde curls and absentmindedly pressed a kiss to the top of her head before moving to walk out of the door.

Galinda froze as she felt the green girl's lips brush against her hair. That simple act had caused something weird to bubble up inside her. Some weird set of feelings that she hadn't felt for a long time, certainly not since last night. She felt safe, cared for, and loved. She sighed, plopping back on the bed as she tried to decipher what exactly she was feeling. Surely she wasn't feeling affection towards the green girl. Was she? It seemed like a hard thing to contemplate. Up until this morning, she had completely loathed the girl, doing everything she could to push her buttons and upset her in any way that she could. She sighed again. This was confusing. Everything was confusing. Not to mention she still felt terrified beyond belief of everything that had happened last night. She could feel more tears welling up in her eyes as she clutched one of her pillows to her chest. This was going to be hard to get through. But maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to do this alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this has taken so long. Time to write comes and goes frequently, and is very short when I get it.**

**Disclaimer: Again, I do not own any of the ideas, characters, or settings of Wicked, the musical or the book series.**

* * *

For once in her life, Elphaba Thropp could not, for the life of her, focus during class. Her mind kept wandering back to her blonde roommate, remembering the sadness, the pain, even the fear that had been swimming in those big blue eyes. She sighed and shook her head, clearing her mind once again. The sooner she focused, the sooner classes would be over, and she could finally go check on Galinda…

Why was she so worried about her, anyways? Was this not the same girl who, less than twenty-four hours ago, was making jokes at the green girl's expense? Was this not the same girl she had vowed to loathe her whole life long? Perhaps it was the look on the blonde's face, when she had walked into their dorm last night. That devastated look of being purely alone. Something the green girl was all too familiar with.

So that was it, then. She identified with her. Of all people, the green-skinned girl was in the same boat as the popular girl.

Well, not exactly, she reasoned. There was something that she had seen in those blue eyes last night, something sad and a bit scary. Rather, something she _hadn't_ seen. Her roommate's normally sparkling blue eyes had looked empty, far-off. Dazed, one might say, like the petite girl had been looking straight through her. That had been the red flag that something was _definitely_ not right.

Elphaba was cut off from any further reasoning when the final bell rang. She could go check on Galinda now. She almost ran all the way to their dorm, ignoring the usual jeers from Pfannee and Shenshen and the others. The walk from Dr. Dillamond's room to their dorm in Crage Hall was only ten minutes, but Elphaba found herself unlocking their door in only five minutes.

Quietly, so as not to disturb the blonde, should she be sleeping, Elphaba opened the door, peeking over at her roommate's bed as she closed the door behind her. She wasn't there. Trying not to let her worry get the better of her so quickly, she looked over at the desk and in the blonde's fairly expansive closet. Nothing. Finally, she came to the bathroom door, and that was when she heard the quiet, muffled sniffling and sobbing coming from the other side.

"Galinda?" she asked hesitantly, rapping softly on the door. "Galinda, are you well?"

"Go away!" came the teary response. But Elphaba would not be brushed aside so easily. Not this time.

"Miss Galinda, I'm coming in, whether you need me or not, I hope you are decent." She hadn't meant for her tone to come out so stern, but she needed to know what was plaguing her roommate so much.

With a gentle push of the door, which she was surprised to find unlocked, she stepped into their shared bathroom. She glanced over to Galinda, and her heart sank. The girl was curled up in a ball with her knees to her chest, sitting in the tub. There was no water, and Elphaba could see that she was only wearing her thin, sleeveless nightgown. But that wasn't what stuck out to the green girl. With the short, length of the dress, and the lack of sleeves to cover her arms, Elphaba could see every bruise and scrape on the girl's limbs.

With a quiet gasp, Elphaba kneeled in front of the sniffling girl, who refused to meet her eyes. "Galinda… What happened to you?" She climbed into the tub, gently grasping the girl's quivering shoulders as she ducked her head to try and meet her gaze. "Galinda, I need to know what happened last night. Please tell me so I can help." The urgency in her voice caused the blonde to finally look up at her, blinking once before falling forward into Elphaba's arms, tears overcoming her once again. "Just tell me when you think you're ready to," Elphaba comforted her, stroking her hair softly.

It took a while, Elphaba wasn't even sure how long they sat there, no sound but the quiet sniffles coming from Galinda as she tried to stop crying. Finally, Galinda looked up, swiping the back of her hand over her eyes, and taking a deep breath.

"Last night… I went for my date with F-Fiyero…" she began in a shaky voice, staring down at her lap as she spoke. "And… after our date… Fiyero had to go, because he's not allowed near or in Crage Hall, you know?" Elphaba nodded silently, brushing some hair from the blonde's face, so she could see her properly, waiting wordlessly for her to continue. "So… I told him I'd be fine to walk back alone. And I was fine, until…" She paused again, taking another moment to collect herself. "Until I decided to walk around campus a bit, by myself." She shook her head a bit. "It was such a _stupid_ idea, I don't even know why I came up with it. I don't know why I thought that Shiz would look any different at night, in the dark. It certainly didn't." She paused again, sniffling once more and wiping the back of her hand over her eyes again. "But, um… I finally decided to walk back to Crage Hall, and…"

She took another pause, trying to figure out how she was going to word this. Was she certain, now, that she could trust Elphaba with this information? Could she tell her her deepest, darkest secret? Yes. She trusted her more than anyone else right now. More than her family, more than her other so-called friends, more than Fiyero, even more than she trusted herself to keep it bottled in. She had to tell Elphaba. She had to tell someone. She couldn't just keep it trapped in her mind like this. It couldn't be healthy. With another deep breath, she continued her story.

"On my way back to Crage Hall, I noticed someone walking behind me. I didn't… think that much of it, at the time. I figured it was just someone else on their way back to their dorm." Galinda began to talk faster and faster as she struggled to get the rest of her story out. "Just in case, though, I walked a little faster, but so did the person behind me, so I started to run, but they did, too, and before I knew it, I was pinned against a wall, and I wasn't sure what was happening, and I begged him to stop and to let me just go home, but he wouldn't let me, and he… he…" Her voice grew dangerously quiet, and Elphaba strained to hear the next sentence. "He took advantage of me…" Her voice was almost non-existent as she buried her face in her hands, sobs shaking her body once again.

Elphaba was left completely speechless. She didn't know what to say, how to comfort the blonde in the way she knew that she needed to be comforted. So she did what she could, and held the sobbing girl a little tighter, letting her know she was there. She tried to speak, but all she could do was murmur "my sweet" repeatedly as she held her. She couldn't very well tell her it would be okay. That wasn't true. She knew there was no way to make her forget about it. Even if there was, that wouldn't be the answer. So, they sat in silence, Galinda sobbing quietly into her hands as Elphaba held her, gently smoothing her hand over the girl's blonde hair. Eventually, though, the more rational side of Elphaba began to come out.

"Have you seen a doctor yet?" she asked quietly, once Galinda had seemed to calm down, at least for a little while.

Galinda shook her head. "You're the only one that knows."

"Don't you think you _need_ to see a doctor? Make sure you're okay?" Elphaba watched the blonde, hoping she wasn't upsetting her further.

Galinda remained silent for a while, her head resting on Elphaba's shoulder as she began toying with a strand of Elphaba's head before shaking her head silently. "I don't wanna tell anyone else…" she whispered tearfully. "I'm scared for anyone else to know…"

"Oh, my sweet…" Elphaba fell silent, knowing that her argument wasn't going to get her anywhere else, and resorting back to stroking the girl's hair for comfort. "I swear I won't tell anyone, you know. I could… _never_… tell someone something like this… You're secret is safe with me…"

"I know that, Elphie…" Galinda sniffled. "Thank you." She nuzzled her head more into the crook of Elphaba's shoulder, falling silent again as she felt tears burning her eyes again. This was so hard. She was still so scared. She was still so hurt. She would never be the same, she knew that. She would _never _be the same again.

Elphaba sat very still, letting the girl cry into her shoulder. She was surprised that she had remained so calm throughout this whole process. Well, calm in a manner of speaking. She was, by no means, done with the subject. She would find out who had done this to her roommate. She would make sure that there was justice. But that wasn't her main concern, not at all. That was making sure that her roommate was going to be okay. Or at least as okay as possible, given the circumstances. She would do whatever it took to make sure that the blonde was feeling better. That's why she wished that she could get her to go to a doctor to get checked out. It was such a simple thing, and she knew it would make both of them feel better. She had to try to convince her again.

"You know… I'd feel much better if you went to see a doctor. I think you would to…" Elphaba spoke in a gentle, soothing tone, so as not to distress the girl any further. "They'll be able to make sure you're okay, make sure that nothing is extremely wrong…" The blonde shook her head, but Elphaba wasn't put off that easily. "They can even get you counseling, someone to talk to…"

"No." Galinda's voice was muffled against Elphaba's shoulder. "You're the only one I need to and am going to talk to about this."

"Galinda, my sweet, _please_. You have to see reason," Elphaba begged. "The doctor can help. You'll feel so much better if you go." She paused for a second. "If it would make you feel any better, I'll go with you. I'll even sit in the room with you, if you wish for me, too. Galinda,_ please_. The doctor can help."

Galinda sighed, and Elphaba hoped that maybe, just maybe, she had convinced the blonde to go to the doctor. "You'll really come with me?"

Elphaba nodded. "Of course I will."

"And you'll stay with me the whole time?"

Another nod.

"What if I get scared?"

"Then I'll be right there with you, and I promise, you can hold my hand, you can cry on my shoulder, whatever you need to do." Elphaba looked down at the blonde, meeting her gaze directly. "Please, Galinda. Please see a doctor."

Galinda was silent for a minute, watching her lap as she played with her hands a bit. "You… really think that seeing a doctor will make me feel better?"

"You and me, both."

Galinda nodded. "Do we have to go right now?"

"Well, that would be best, but we can go whenever you're ready to. But preferably today."

Galinda nodded, sitting up straight and looking up at Elphaba. "Thank you…" she murmured, slowly moving to embrace the green-skinned girl in front of her.

Elphaba smiled slightly, hugging the girl back gently. "Of course. Anything for you, Miss Galinda."

They both chuckled at that as Galinda pulled away, wiping her tears away as she chuckled sadly. "I don't think I've ever cried this much in my entire life. Even as a baby!"

Elphaba could see that tears were threatening to spill once again, so she quickly changed the subject. "Come on…" She stood up, holding her hands out for the blonde to pull herself up with. "Let's get you into some warmer clothes, and I'll fix us some hot chocolate and we can take it from there, okay?"

Galinda nodded silently as she stood. "That's very kind of you, Elphaba." She looked up at the green girl and they both shared a soft smile before Galinda turned away, feeling a slight blush on her cheeks as she moved to her closet, looking for an outfit to wear. Elphaba watched her with a slight grin on her face before moving to their kitchenette. It was going to be a long day, she could tell already. But at least Galinda wouldn't be facing this alone anymore.


End file.
